


Recollection Breakdown

by Buntheridon



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Biting, Dubious Consent, F/M, Flashbacks, Horny town, Masturbation, Mature Illidan, OR IS IT, Past Dub-con mostly, Pining, Repressed Memories, Sex, Smut, World of Warcraft: Legion, hatelust, memories returning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:53:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28611651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buntheridon/pseuds/Buntheridon
Summary: Maiev is in hard mode denial. This story, like so many of mine, started as craving for more smut. The descriptions of Maiev’s psychology might be triggering to some, and they are probably not accurate concerning any real condition of repressed memories or amnesia. She’s somewhat obsessed in canon hence this approach. I love her to bits and want them to bang, so that's where we are going: towards a happier end ;)The dub-con tag is for past events in their 10k years in the Barrow Deeps prison.
Relationships: Maiev Shadowsong/Illidan Stormrage
Comments: 22
Kudos: 37





	1. Denial is Easier

_Did you miss me?_ his smirk seemed to ask. 

Maiev was too far away to hear what Khadgar was saying and if it were up to her she’d be so damn _away_ she wouldn’t have to see the resurrected bastard’s face at all. Illidan made a show of greeting everyone politely and listening to them but he kept glancing at Maiev who stubbornly stayed behind the rows of people who had come to the welcoming ceremony on Krasus’ Landing. She shifted uneasily in her thick armor, her face too warm inside the helm but damned if she wasn’t going to keep it on until she got into the safety of her own rooms.

She wasn’t about to just up and forgive him even if he had kind of, sort of, served his time if she thought about it carefully. _Yeah, I guess I have to let him exist. For now._

Khadgar looked like he had said his fill, which was a rare phenomenon indeed if you knew the guy at all. He almost patted the huge horned fucker in the back but withdrew his amiable hand at the last moment. _That’s right, don’t go being too chummy now,_ Maiev thought bitterly and left the platform.

Marching through the streets of Dalaran with the grace of an irate golem she tried to gather her thoughts. That didn’t help since the problem seemed to be of a different nature. A sentiment? Hate, obviously. Disappointment and frustration at her life-long duty having now become meaningless and void. She had guarded him for millennia after another, hunted him down at the cost of her comrades’ lives – and on some lucid moments she thought also at the cost of her sanity – and it had all been for nothing, right?

She reached the inn, ran up the stairs, rushed into her room and slammed the door shut like it were her worst enemy.

 _If Khadgar even dreams of suggesting I work together with that Betrayer I will let him taste my fist,_ she screamed inwardly while outwardly let out a deep wordless groan. Her glaives flew to the opposite wall that was protected by a spell so they just fell in the corner with an unsatisfying clatter. She pushed her helm up and let it drop on the floor. At least that made a loud clang to match the volume of her annoyance. She clipped the pauldrons off and they followed the headpiece. Her route to the bathroom was soon marked by a path of armor pieces, leaving her clad in soft knee-length pants and a tunic.

“Fuck this. Fuck it all to the Twisting Nether,” she sighed in resignation and opened the hot water tab to fill the empyrium tub. She slumped on her knees and leaned on the edge of it, her silvery white hair falling free and messy over her shoulders.

_“I wouldn’t send even my enemies there.”_

Maiev jolted up, searching in vain for her weapons, eyes darting around the room. There was no-one besides her.

But there was a knock on the door.

 _I am so not going to answer that. It’s probably the fool of a mage checking on me and my mental well-being. Let him worry._ She yanked her socks off and started opening the laces of the tunic.

_“Maiev.”_

Illidan’s voice was so soft it shut through her mind with a memory that had been so carefully dissected, denied, ground to mush and hidden under a rock that it _hurt_ her when it resurfaced all intact and fresh like it had happened yesterday. 

_She was sweating, her sticky palms leaning against tight abdominal muscles under her. Eerie green glow from the fel tattoos illuminated the cell. Her hips rose and fell, a purring sound rumbling out of her throat at the feeling of being so absolutely filled. Illidan’s voice was soft and full of wonder when he repeated her name like a chant._

The air left her lungs and her nipples pushed against the tunic, hardened. _What in the everblooming hells? We never –_

_“I just want to talk, I promise.”_

“I’m not –” she had to clear her throat and start again, for her voice was peculiarly hoarse even for her usual grit. “I’m not opening the door.” _Especially after that absolutely outrageous flash of –_ what? Was he using some dark magic on her or what on Azeroth was that? There was silence, then a shuffling sound as the demon hunter knelt or sat on the floor on the other side. She tried to imagine him sitting cross-legged like she had seen him do for thousands of years in the gloom of the Barrow Deeps, but now with those beastly hooves.

 _“How are you, Maiev?”_ For a demonic idiot who had swallowed whatever powers he could without a thought Illidan sounded so unbearably _caring_ she now wanted to open the door just to be able to slam it on his blind face.

“Why?”

_“...I want to know. Have you lived free and happy as you should have after completing your task back then in the Black Temple?”_

“You dare. Get the fuck out.” She was trembling, her nails digging into her palms painfully. Maybe if she drew blood she’d calm down?

 _“Look… Our ten thousand years together feel like a meagre year or two now compared to the endless, timeless eons I spent drifting in the Void after my death. I had plenty of time to think, even though the first millennia were spent gathering my scattered sense of self. It… changed my view of things. I wouldn’t joke about something so serious as how one spends their life. I’m genuinely asking if you’ve managed to…”_ his voice drifted off like he’d finally come to the obvious and only conclusion about Maiev and _harmony_ being mutually exclusive entities.

“I’m not buying that act, Betrayer,” she barked, nonetheless leaning her back against the door like she wasn’t aware of being closer to him that way, and slowly sinking to a sitting position on the floor.

_“You’re still using that pet name, huh? Even after setting free my Illidari.”_

“A bit thick coming from someone who names students after himself. Why would that change anything? We needed their services, that’s all.” 

_Just like I needed you back then. Twice. Thrice. How many times?_

What was that thought just now? She heard Illidan grunt as an answer and they stayed quiet, sensing the other through the thin wooden barrier. Maiev felt she had to add a smidgen of honesty in the equation.

”I don’t trust you even if you seem to be an enemy of the Legion now. But since Khadgar does, I will cooperate.” She felt proud of herself for being the bigger elf, giving this handshake to her former foe.

Illidan’s chuckle broke her basking. _“You are such a contradictory character, Maiev, you know that? You said the same all those years, but we both know how you trusted yourself into my hands uninhibitedly.”_ She heard him stand up and the door against her back felt a bit colder.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

 _“Play your little game if you must, but count me out of it. I’m glad to see you alive.”_ With that he was gone. Maiev stood up and slouched to the steaming bathtub. Her thoughts felt jumbled. Something uncomfortable was poking at her mind, so she shut it, yanked her remaining clothes off and sank herself in the hot water. Her muscles started to relax but her mind wouldn’t let go.

 _I was a good warden. I never wavered, I kept him in check. It was Tyrande who let him escape._ And in the light of this new knowledge the priestess had been right, she allowed an adjustment to interrupt her ancient monologue. _But my duty was to keep him behind bars, caged, chained…_

_Handcuffed to the floor while I rode him the first time._

“What in Elune’s name is this?” she muttered, her hands rubbing herbal bathing oil up her thighs. She found herself soft and moist between them. _Right, okay, I have been alone for all these millennia, I get it. Of course he’s handsome and powerful, but this is ridiculous._ Despite her self-reproach she leaned back and let her fingers draw languid circles around her swollen clitoris. _It’s better to take the edge off,_ she reasoned, knowing she would later be forced to face him. Khadgar had mentioned there’d be an official meeting after some dining and other useless rituals that Maiev was deliberately skipping.

She could hear his voice in her mind, moaning her name, cursing through his clenched teeth – and she was already on the edge. She had done this before, at times when she felt like bursting with frustration and need. Illidan’s memory was always with her, how could it not, after that unimaginably long time together? Naturally he was there when she touched herself, but it wasn’t as if she meant to think about him on purpose when she… alright, fine, maybe she did, but more in the terms of whipping him or humiliating him in some way. Right?

This time was different, his presence in her mind was enhanced by his actual return and by these weird erotic flashes Maiev kept having. What had notably changed was the absence of ...mourning? She brushed that observation under her bulging mental rug and concentrated on getting herself off. _This is probably some repressed natural need, nothing to do with his person,_ she allowed, thinking herself so very openminded in the moment. _Well, to hells with it. Let’s see what kind of lewd fantasies I have stored in there._

She felt the rough veiny surface of his horns scrape and burn the skin of her palms and her gripping fingers. How she knew they served so well as handles, or what they felt like, was a mystery to her. The thought of his voracious lips, his rough tongue on her bud made her shatter in pleasure under her fingers in seconds.

Maiev let her mind float free until she had towelled and dressed.

_Time to move onto serious matters and forget this nonsense._


	2. Cooperation is the Key

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here they are:
> 
> https://www.deviantart.com/buntheridon/art/Mr-and-Mrs-Rage-857892738  
> \--------------

Some hours later Maiev got a summons to go yet again to the landing area, this time to leave for the Broken Shore with an elite group led by Khadgar and Velen. When she arrived a dozen or so wardens in tow, she had steeled herself enough to face the demon hunter. He was standing in the middle of his followers, a head taller than any of them, thick muscles bulging, leathery wings neatly folded behind his back. His form drew her eyes like a magnet – and she wasn’t the only one.  _ Go play the alpha somewhere else, damnit. _ Maiev suppressed a shiver, glad to be hidden by her helmet again. Everyone except the demon hunters had gryphons or hippogriffs with them. The bat mob were going to float down the edge of the city, weren’t they, the showy buggers?

“Warden Shadowsong,” Khadgar greeted her warmly, “I didn’t see you at the welcome lunch.”

“I wasn’t there. So, what’s the plan?”

“Um, right. I guess you two don’t need introductions. Wardens, Illidari, champions. We are all working towards the same goal and I emphasize that collaboration and mutual aid is a must. For our world to survive we have to defeat the Legion and that means putting aside our differences and old grudges. If there are disagreements, bring them to me or to Prophet Velen.” With a puff of magic and feathers he shapeshifted into a raven and continued talking like nothing had changed. “Let us fly to the Broken Shore. Everyone, follow me!”

The wardens hopped on their hippogriffs as the others took wing and headed after the mage. Again Maiev felt Illidan’s searing gaze on her and forced herself not to turn her head towards him, leading her night elves to flight.

“See you there,” she heard him say, warm amusement in his voice, right before he jumped off the ledge.

  
  
  


****

  
  
  


She would never admit in a million years that after Illidan was defeated and was presumably permanently dead, like people usually are when killed, Maiev went through a period of utter emptiness. There was no joy, no exhilaration of victory, no sensation of freedom. She felt nothing and for a time didn’t do anything apart from training away target dummy after target dummy and drinking too much peaked wine.

She would also never admit to the feeling of bubbling excitement, a sense of meaning, even of  _ belonging, _ when she heard the news of Illidan’s return. As unlikely as it sounded, his soul had been pieced together, shoved into his preserved body in the Nighthold and he was on his way to Dalaran. No, outwardly Warden Shadowsong barked a string of disbelieving curses that might have convinced the younger wardens but not Sira.

Was her existence so useless that she needed that traitorous villain to feel alive? How pathetic was that? She went on to protest to Khadgar but could hardly hide her radiance behind the insults that only made the human smile.

  
  


****

  
  


The wardens landed on the high spot of the small island Khadgar and the Illidari had chosen as their base of operations. The grey-haired mage called the leaders and champions around him making it impossible for Maiev to avoid the tattooed bugger any longer. As politeness dictated the wardens removed their covering helmets for the duration of the gathering and so must she. But then again, Illidan had no eyes. He probably saw whatever it was the self-mutilators did whether she wore clothes or not. That slip of thought made her cheeks warm and her defensive annoyance peak once more.

Illidan glanced at her – that is, his blindfolded face turned towards where she was standing, mere feet away from him – like there was something that caught his attention. Khadgar and some of the leading demon hunters explained the plan and gave tasks to the faction heroes. Maiev didn’t listen. She kept her eyes looking straight ahead and slightly downwards, trying to find her inner peace.

_ Oh. Right. I don’t have one of those. _

”I’m going to send my best people to scout the cathedral. Illidan, Maiev. You two go and check its surroundings, exits and entrances, the strength of their forces there. Do not engage at this time. That’s everything for now, I think.” Khadgar looked proud of himself.

”What!? I refuse to –” her mouth was faster than her reason and she bit her lip not to continue. Some heads turned. Everyone else seemed to accept the winged demons as their best buddies now, so what could her objection accomplish, really?

”I know you two have an extensive history together, but this is a great opportunity to make amends and forgive, don’t you agree?” The mage smiled like a doting grandfather.

”She doesn’t, but it’s no matter. We have to do this. Allari, can I borrow your mount?”

”Of course, Lord Illidan. It would be an honor. You can later choose one that’s to your liking from our stables in Mardum.”

Maiev made a face behind them and marched to the stables at the edge of the camp. Right behind her heavy hoofsteps followed. She hid her face inside the helm.

”Why this charade, Maiev? Wouldn’t it be better just to let go of it already?”

”Shut up and –”

_ ’Shut up and fuck me,’ she had ordered, gripping the elementium bars behind her, those that separated her from her prisoner. She opened her thighs, leaned forward, presenting her juicy cunt invitingly to Illidan behind her, knowing he had no willpower to resist even if he felt a pang in his self-respect. He growled like a beast in frustration and heat that he effectively had turned into under her teasing, and his claws sank into the flesh of her waist. _

”Maiev?”

She stood petrified, mortified, horrified by the sudden realistic flash of explicit smut in her head.  _ What is happening to me? _ Illidan stepped closer, too close, and her betrayer of a vagina reacted with an enthusiastic lurch. She heard him inhale.

”By the void, woman. I don’t know what is going on with you but unless you tone that down it will be  _ me _ who has to ask for a different partner, lest I go mad.”

She nearly choked with the traffic in her throat, sharp inhalation of breath crashing against the hoarse bark of indignation and an embarrassing and stifled moan of pure lust. She ended up coughing and shooing him off mutely. He waited to see she was not about to perish right there, chuckled and jumped on the fel bat.

”Race you there.”

”Why, you insufferable–!” 

What did he know about her condition? How? Did those green flaming eye sockets see emotions? She followed him up into the sky until their mounts were flying side by side. Illidan seemed to have forgotten the race as soon as he’d said it, like he hadn’t gotten enough of her company for fifty lifetimes.

“I don’t hate you, you know, not anymore. As my warden you did what you thought was right. Within your own interpretation of it, at least.” He lowered his voice, “And with a lapse here and there that didn’t endanger my remaining imprisoned. In the monotony of the years they were something to look forward to.”

“I have had enough of your ridiculous insinuations, demon… hunter.” She was really trying. “Since we are forced to work together, could we at least pretend to be civil?”

_ “You _ suggest that? That’s what I’ve been trying all along. I understand there might be things you want to forget and not chat over breakfast but at least be honest with me.”

“Like you deserved that.”

He sighed deep. “It’s like you are two different people, Maiev. Both of them are hot-headed but only one of them is straightforward.”

“There you go again with your fables. Stop that and we might get along.”

“Fine, if that’s what you really need. I’ll remind you of this next time you come begging for attention.” He steered his ride downwards forcing her to follow. His words baffled her to no end and at the same time that  _ something, _ which had been nagging at her all day, was again poking her consciousness.

They left their beasts at a ledge overlooking Vengeance Point. Illidan summoned a shielding invisibility aura around the two of them and they snuck closer to see a side entrance to the old elven place of worship. The structure was mostly intact, but it oozed fel and other dark magics making it look corrupted and horrible. Winged demons guarded the area and Illidan informed seeing hundreds inside. They needed a small army.

“I can kill hundreds, you know this.” Indeed, she had felled an endless number of Illidan’s forces in Outland. His  _ hmm _ of acknowledgement was tinted with flirt and she squashed the rising delight in herself.  _ The fuck I care whether or not he approves of me. _

“I do. The two of us could take down a significant amount of them. But it would only be an indulgence, leading our war nowhere. I think I have a plan for Khadgar. Unless there’s anything you wish to do here, we should return.”

“I’d like nothing more than to smash through the filth, but he explicitly told us not to.” She turned back and suppressed a cry. Demons riding huge fel bats had spotted their mounts and were battling with them high in the air. More demons were on their way there. Allari’s beast disengaged itself from the foes and headed towards Aszuna’s coast.

“Curses!” 

“You’ve trained them to distract? Mighty clever of you soulless lot.”

“Fel bats are intelligent beings. He decided that course of action by himself. He’ll draw them away from us and our basecamp. Let’s get out of here fast.”

“That’s a long swim.” Maiev took off her helm and studied the distance to the opposite shore. 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Illidan snapped behind her and before she could answer his strong arms swooped her up.


	3. Don’t Clash too Hard Now

They were airborne in seconds, speeding away from the enemies on Illidan’s strong wings. Against her better judgement Maiev kicked and clawed him in anger, trying to hide the more dangerous emotions pushing to the surface when held so close to her archenemy.

“Let me the fuck off, you fiend!”

“You don’t want to swim in that gear, warden,” his voice rumbled against her and she barely maintained control over her panic – not of falling but that something locked deep in her would crawl out and reveal the shameful truth. He was too damn self-satisfied as he was, she certainly didn’t want to fuel that any further. The talons of her gloves sank into his ridiculously thick biceps making him grunt in pain – and desire. She froze and her eyes fell shut.

_ Maiev’s ungloved hands gripped Illidan’s arms, digging her nails into his flesh until she drew blood. He growled. He was standing against the bars of his prison, his wrists were tied pulling his arms wide open. She pressed herself against him, her breasts nearly spilling out from her thin shirt, the only garment she was wearing. She mocked him, yet their want for each other was undeniable. _

She gasped and withdrew her hand but it was too late. Somehow she  _ knew _ Illidan had thought of the exact same thing. It was a memory, not an inexplicably dirty daydream.

Their memory.

“How I could endure your behaviour before, when I didn’t have the patience I have now –” he huffed, voice thick with lust. Maiev was lost in the chaos in her, uncertain about what was real and what wasn’t, afraid of not being able to trust her own mind. At the same time a loud hedonistic voice in her yelled it didn’t even matter – this desire was the ultimate reality and the highest living truth and should be followed religiously. The demon hunter was emanating such delectable heat she was about to faint and she was hardly the frail sort. Illidan drew in breath, grit his teeth and made a decision. He dashed down towards a lonely small island, a mere rock really, landing on a grassy spot. He dropped her down on her back, tossed both their glaives securely further away and towering over her locked her on the ground by her wrists. His silky black hair fell on her cheeks, his glowing eye sockets seemed to stare into the depths of her mind through the blindfold. The shock still held her nearly paralyzed and she didn’t fight him.

“Fuck, Maiev. I can smell your –” He pushed his enormous thigh against her mound and she cried out, arousal piercing her core. That was enough. He released her wrists, and instead of fighting her hands flew up to grab his ears, tug at his hair, desperately pulling him closer. Their lips crushed together and the first touch of his tongue against hers triggered a chain of Maiev’s unconscious landmines from several millennia before.

_ Illidan secured with a chain, or handcuffs, or ropes, or with a mere promise. _

_ The two of them in his cell, tangled together, naked, sweaty, and ferocious. _

_ Endless torture for both of them, refraining from touching for decades even when they wanted it madly.  _

_ Flirting and arguing and mocking. Like a couple. _

Images and memories flooded her mind as she kissed him with the same ardor she remembered always feeling with him. It was saturated with rage and loneliness and recognition. Whining unabashedly in need she sucked and bit his tongue like she wanted to devour him and he let her, a purring sound rising from his throat. Her metal claws gripped his shoulders until she pulled away from his lips and yanked the gloves off throwing them somewhere carelessly. She unfastened her neck guard and pulled it off, revealing the sensitive skin for Illidan to bite into. Her hips arched against his terrible, wonderful, rock-hard cock straining under the leathers. He pushed against her and it felt both thrilling and so familiar it calmed something in her soul while at the same time the lust was threatening to tear her apart.

_ I have missed this. _

Before she knew her hands were working Illidan’s belt off impatiently. He snatched her wrist, stopping her.

“Are you still going to pretend nothing happened between us?”

“Stop talking and fuck me. Now.” There was a lump in her throat, an alarming fear that the painful need might be left unsated.  _ He wouldn’t dare, not now. Or would he? _

“Answer me first,” he rumbled and held her immobile. She could see his chest rise and fall rapidly, his purple skin a deeper shade around the cheeks, his cock twitching against her – yet somehow he found the strength to resist the urge. ”You teased me for centuries, warden. Came and went as you pleased, had me whenever you felt like it, however you fancied, then disappeared for years again. At least admit it. I’ve developed such self-discipline  _ nothing _ you do or say could possibly break it.”

She was aware of there being _ their past  _ now, other than the obvious; and that she had been somewhat active – that is, culpable – in this particular side of it. It clashed with her principles and self-image so much that it was hard to admit on any other level than the direct desire aiming at satisfying itself. Had she wanted him dead as much as she wanted his body right now?

It would be so easy to answer him, she could just give in and she’d have what she craved for so much it hurt. But damn it if Maiev was anything but stubborn, unhealthily so. She had decided to ’win’ this one and nothing would bend her resolve. Not even the fact that he was right, and she knew it.

Not even her crushing want.

_ ”Take me,” _ she whispered, staring up into his fel glowing eye sockets, hoarse and wanton. She ground her hips up against his length, nearly getting off on that alone.  _ ”Ram that thick cock of yours inside me and pound me senseless. I know you want to.” _

A deep, long groan from his throat morphed into a guttural laugh. ”Elune be cursed, I love it when you talk dirty. An honorable warden turned into a beast in heat. What did your sisters think of it in the Deeps, or did they ever find out? You must have sent them away beforehand, the noise we made would be heard for miles.” He gently swiped her silvery white hair aside from her neck, not expecting her to answer. ”Oh, I do want to fuck you until you can’t utter anything but my name. But this time I want more. Tell me you remember us, what we did and what we talked, stop pretending and bloody apologize, and you can have all of me.” 

Maiev turned her head away. What was this sappy talk? Like she was interested in–

A deep, frustrated sigh from him tore at her being, the restrained desire in it a warning and a promise.

“Fine, have it your way. See if you can explain away  _ this _ to your reflection in the morrow.” Illidan bit his teeth into the flesh of her exposed neck, making her cry out in surprise, pain and freshly peaking lust. She cursed and tried to kick him, tugged her wrists aggressively in his grip but to no avail. He sucked until the skin broke, licked over the mark, and then withdrew, smug and childishly triumphant.

“You asshole,” she growled weakly, panting, eyes dark and half closed. Illidan vaulted backwards and with the aid if his wings reached his weapons before she got up. Best keep a distance to the powder keg of an irate warden. He took wing and was immensely pleased to hear a faint whimper of disappointment behind him. The wait would be torturous but he’d live off that sound alone for a week.

He hovered above the rock, calling the felbat. The beast returned, Maiev’s hippogryph in tow.

”Call me when you are ready to talk,” he declared, and she was alone again.

Maiev didn’t return in a hurry.


	4. Hiding is Futile

Overseeing the war preparations and long-winded operations with her wardens and the champions of Azeroth was enough work to somewhat occupy Maiev’s time and mind, and to ignore the infuriating hornhead doing his similar looking tasks in the vicinity at their base camp in the Broken Shore. The foundation for the Mage Tower had been constructed, and they had started on the Nether Disruptor. The Command Center, built inside repurposed elven ruins, was still missing half its roof and one of the walls.

Maiev had made such leaps in her skills in small talk with prophet Velen she would soon either self-combust from the strain or reach some sort of new level of consciousness. Velen had the patience of an ageless turtle and he continued to indulge her. At times she felt the old draenei’s smile at her was just a bit off. Did he guess she was grasping at straws with their conversation as an excuse to not talk to anyone else? Or maybe her sudden chitchatting had triggered a vision of her future in the nowadays very irregular prophet? She certainly wasn’t going to ask.

She watched the endless lines of people bring Khadgar heaps and heaps of these glowing demonic shards gathered from around the island. When the mage was all ‘oops, I only needed one’, he seemed to survive the ire of the poor errant heroes only by playing the silly old goof and telling them that, by the way, the demon hunters accept the shards as a currency. Why the joke hadn’t been revealed ages ago to those arriving later showed the true colors of the champions. Such solidarity.

With her new forced extroversion, she could start an hour-long conversation with the mage of that prank alone, but for some reason Khadgar seemed to enjoy Illidan’s company most of the time, discussing plans, comparing Arcane skills or whatever it was they talked about. So she stayed away or tormented the Prophet. On occasions when they all had to decide something crucial around the maps and reports she positioned herself furthest away from the irritatingly irresistible monster elf and spoke like he wasn’t there.

All this helped only marginally.

Their sleeping arrangements had given her some trouble as well. All of them shared the dormitory in the Command Center, the part with the missing roof, covered with leather canvasses. Illidan hadn’t chosen a spot, like he wasn’t about to sleep at all or maybe he just couldn’t fit in with his enormous frame – the temporary roof was low. Maiev could sleep anywhere, in almost any circumstances or weather or noise when she needed to. The sleep was often superficial and short, a hunter’s alert necessity, enough to revive her to function efficiently. Even knowing Illidan was around would probably not prevent her from falling asleep.

There were lots of people around on their own sleeping mats, dwarves, draenei, orcs, goblins, coming and going at all hours of the day and night. He wouldn’t find her alone to continue his obnoxious mission to unearth more of their mind-shattering memories from her obstinate head or try to annoy her with his frighteningly intense suggestions.

The damned flashbacks were the problem. As irrational as the thought was, she was afraid she'd blurt out something embarrassingly revealing half-asleep or waking up. After returning to the camp like nothing uncommon had ever happened, she had worked non-stop two days and a night, and soon she was forced to rest no matter how much she pushed herself. She seriously considered gagging herself before turning in.

Like reading her thoughts Khadgar cleared his throat and addressed her. “Warden Shadowsong, don’t think I haven’t noticed you neglecting yourself. I appreciate the devotion to our cause, but you must take care of your well-being too. Go and have a night’s sleep when you still can. No objections now, it’s an order.” You couldn’t say not to that grandfatherly voice. She muttered something affirmative and marched away before she would slap Illidan on the mouth for smirking like that.

Out of habit, she had chosen a spot nearest to the exit, which in this case was the missing wall on the western end of the building, shaded by a huge dead tree. On a clear day you could see all the way up to Dalaran from there. She felt Illidan’s gaze on her back and cursed deeply when she realized there was a straight unobstructed line of sight from the command post to her makeshift bed. Annoyed, she placed her helm on the ground beside her and, trying to ignore everything and anything, lay down like a patient awaiting her undead surgeon.

Watching the fel green clouds above her get mixed with splashes of purple and pink of the setting sun she spontaneously remembered the first time her derision at her prisoner had turned to flirt. It was the end of the third millennia of his sentence. There was a gathering above ground in Hyjal, and how much what she witnessed there actually affected the change in her was unclear. Tyrande and Malfurion had been exceptionally affectionate, all over each other, radiating love and desire like a newly formed couple.

_When muttering her annoyance at their behaviour Maiev saw the priestess flash a smile towards her that spelled pity. Anyndra tried to soothe her but she got up and stormed out of the party._

_She returned to Illidan’s cage alone, angry and lonely and hurt. Moving silently like she always did she hoped to catch him unawares doing whatever it was he did when left alone. Spying behind a pillar Maiev heard him grunt and puff in exertion and mutter long sequences of spells even though the wards around his cell prevented any magic from working. Maiev had seen him exercise thousands of times, filling the hours and days with long routines that went through all the muscles of his body meticulously. For one reason or another, this time watching him do push-ups awakened a sort of hunger in her instead of her usual sneering indifference. The lovey dovey couple must have sparked it, or they had simply reminded her of the existence of the erotic._

_She approached Illidan when he stood up and his back was turned towards the elementium bars. He had taken off the tunic he’d been given, the glowing tattoos in full view. He seemed to be drawing imaginary runes in the air, reading aloud complicated calculations of a long spell. His arm muscles bulged and moved, tightened and relaxed, and Maiev found herself staring, mesmerized, pleasure dripping over her senses and panties. Her gaze slid lower, to the well-defined shape of his ass covered with a loincloth, and to his enormous, muscular thighs._

_What harm would a little teasing do, she had thought, eyes glued to the gluteus that one could bounce a gold coin off._

On her sleeping mat Maiev groaned in sour hindsight, curling up tighter under her blanket, and tried to push the memory away, but the pesky things were relentless now that they had been turned loose.

_”Good to see you keep yourself fit even if it’s for an eternity in this cell.”_

_Illidan’s hands paused in the air but he didn’t turn around. After a moment he continued with his project. “I won’t sit idle and let myself go mad. The Legion will return one day. I aim to be ready for them.”_

_”We will never set you free, Betrayer. I just met your brother and his loved one. They seemed to have forgotten about you, happily smooching and groping each other like idiots.” She knew it would hurt him, his sibling rivalry with Malfurion over Tyrande’s love an endless source of annoyance. The muscles of his neck tightened before he turned around, face dark with scorn. He clenched his teeth so hard she could hear them creak._

_”And what, pray tell, is the point of you telling me this so-called news, warden? Would you be glad to see me lie on the floor and cry my heart out? No, I know my purpose. My brother and Tyrande may pretend the danger is over if they so choose. Let us hope it doesn’t make them careless when the day comes.”_

(Oh, if she had known how right he was back then.)

_Maiev took off her helmet, whipping her long silvery white hair back. She let her thick fur cloak fall on the stone floor and removed the chestplate. Feeling his burning gaze on her made her feel giddy and alive, the center of everything that existed. She wanted attention, she wanted praise and adoration. When she started opening her leather tunic Illidan finally took notice._

_"What are you doing?”_

_She leaned against the bars, letting her linen-covered breasts squeeze through them to his side. She felt a shiver of desire for daring to think she could seduce her prisoner. It was breaking the code of conduct and more, but she was drunk with power and lust by now. The other wardens wouldn’t be back for hours._

_Not that she needed those hours for anything. She was merely toying with him. Nothing more._

That’s what she had thought back then. And it did take some years of cruel teasing until she finally crossed the line.

Long, torturous, ardent years for both of them.

The sun had set a long time ago when Maiev finally fell asleep.


End file.
